Meet The Kitchn Team: Faith Durand

Faith basically took the reins from me on The Kitchn when I had our daughter back in 2006. She now oversees the site and all the freelance writers who contribute. I'm not quite sure how she does it, but she does it incredibly well. On top of all the daily duties that come with the full-time gig, she not only manages to write knock-out posts of her own, but she somehow figured out how to write a book this year!

I'm so thankful for what she's done for The Kitchn this year, and mostly I'm proud to call her my friend.

A FEW QUESTIONS FOR FAITH

What’s your favorite kitchen tool?Most-used? Probably my stack of half-sheet pans. They are good for roasting, baking, and prepping. But my real favorite is probably my Benriner mandoline. I love shaving vegetables for salads and slaws, or even using it to get perfect Parmesan cheese curls. It's a dangerous love, though; I have the nicks and scars to prove it.

What’s your secret indulgence in the kitchen?Not-so-secret indulgence is music! I always have music on while cooking. Blues, jazz, folk, and old-timey country are on regular rotation. I also have listened straight through most of the available This American Life episodes in the kitchen. But my _secret_ indulgence is raw pie dough. I don't make pies very often, but when I do, oh wow -- the raw pie dough is so seductive. It's that taste of pure butter, just rolled in a little flour, seasoned with salt and a pinch of sugar.

What’s your favorite quote on food, cooking, or eating?"It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others.

So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it; and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied; and it is all one." - M.F.K. Fisher, from The Art of Eating

Welcome to The Kitchn's end-of-year roundup! We are rounding up some of our favorite (and your favorite) posts from the last year, including lots of recipes. We are also shaking out our reader mailbag, and giving you a few more great guest posts from our friends.

Sara Kate is the founding editor of The Kitchn. She co-founded the site in 2005 and has since written three cookbooks. She is most recently the co-author of The Kitchn Cookbook, to be published in October 2014 by Clarkson Potter.